


Nowhere Land

by priama



Category: Batman (Movies - Nolan)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Bullying, F/M, Mild Gore, Pre-Canon, Stalking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:34:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 6,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24779989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/priama/pseuds/priama
Summary: He has no idea why Rachel decides to speak to him at all. Frankly, it makes him uneasy. And suspicious.Drabble collection about Jonathan Crane and Rachel Dawes' relationship prior to the events of Batman Begins, where they knew each other since adolescence.
Relationships: Jonathan Crane/Rachel Dawes
Comments: 9
Kudos: 22





	1. JONATHAN I

**Author's Note:**

> 1 - Beginning

The girl is two years his junior and just a couple of inches shorter than him and Jonathan thinks he can shove her away if she tries anything funny. Just as she approaches him, he visualizes various escape routes.

Except she doesn’t do anything other than extend her hand to him to give him back his glasses.

“I saw you take them off by the drinking fountain before recess was over. I tried to return them earlier but um… I’m not in your grade.”

“Thanks.” He murmurs as he takes back his glasses. He doesn’t put them on yet, in case this is a trick but as he looks back at her, she’s already turned and gone.


	2. JONATHAN II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2 - Accusation

“Ichabod! Hey, Ichabod!”

He turns around brusquely, eyes flashing and wild and slams his fist to the lockers on his right. She flinches.

“That’s _not_ my name.” he hisses.

He is looming over her and she steps back, visibly startled. It’s when she fidgets with her thumbs that Jonathan thinks he might have gone too far. She’ll probably scream and accuse him of accosting her.

“I’m so sorry! I heard some kids call you that and thought-” she clears her throat and stands straight, the fear gone from her eyes “I’m sorry. What’s your name?”

He hesitates. Is this an elaborate joke? He stares at her to see she is still waiting.

“…Jonathan Crane.”

“Oh okay.” She smiles, extending her hand “Hi. My name’s Rachel.”


	3. JONATHAN III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3 - Restless

He has no idea why Rachel decides to speak to him at all. He is well aware she has friends (he’s seen them) and definitely has other, _better_ things to do. Yet she finds the time to look for him, hiding away in the library or during lunch or the hallways. Frankly, it makes him uneasy. And suspicious.

“Rachel.”

“Yeah?”

He turns to her, eyes unblinking behind his glasses, inspecting the girl and searching for hidden gestures that might betray more nefarious intentions. He is well aware girls can be as terrible as boys, and even more so sometimes. He is not new to being tricked into believing a girl finds him attractive, only to drop the bomb on him that it was merely a test to see his reaction and make him the laughingstock of the rest of the spectators.

Rachel has a vivacious air about her and has so far treated him with the respect only a very few have decided to grant him. It could either mean her prank would be a terrible one or that she’s being used by one of his tormentors. He inhales through his nose.

“Go away.”


	4. RACHEL I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 4 - Snowflake

She does not strictly speak to Jonathan again after her told her to get lost weeks ago. She sees him in the halls sometimes and waves at him but ultimately stops when he refuses to reply. Eventually she doesn’t think about him anymore.

Until now.

She sits at the bus stop, trying to will away the itch on her shoulder she cannot reach due to the cast encasing her entire arm. She traces the colorful scribblings her friends signed on the plaster, when she notices someone at her side.

“How did you break your arm?” Jonathan asks. It’s an awkward situation; he was never the one to approach her, Rachel thinks. And now he speaks to her long after her blew her off.

“Biking accident.” She offers a sheepish half smile “Tripped over a rock I didn’t see. Next thing I knew, I fell and my bike landed on my shoulder.”

He nods without saying anything. They sit quietly until the silence gets too awkward for Rachel to handle. She reaches to her bag at her legs and pulls out a marker, handing it to him.

“Sign my cast!”

Jonathan stares at her like he does, always wild eyed as if everything she says scandalizes him to stillness, until he finally takes the marker from her.

“I don’t know what to write.”

She shrugs “It’s okay. Anything goes. Except pervert things.”

Uncapping the marker, he leans forward and scribbles something in a blank space of the plaster, obscured by his head until he moves away. Eagerly, Rachel turns her arm to see what he wrote and lets out a half stifled giggle.

“A snowflake?”

He bristles “I- I told you I didn’t know what to write!”

The flush of his face is made even more obvious by how pale he is but it makes her giggle harder.

“It’s okay, Jon. It’s okay.” She pats him reassuringly with her good hand. “I said anything goes. It’s cute, I like it.”


	5. RACHEL II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 5 - Haze

Fog falls upon the school, blanketing the building and its surroundings as students disperse and leave for their homes. The temperature’s dropping and Rachel expects it to rain soon. She only hopes she can get home before the downpour; handling an oversized umbrella with only one good arm has proved to be very difficult.

She walks to the bus stop, already taken over by the heavy fog when she bumps into something, causing her to drop the umbrella. She kneels down to pick it up.

“Sorry-” looking up she drops it again, horrified. “Oh God, Jon what happened?!”

Jonathan Crane stands, or rather, supports himself against the bus stop panel, pressing his sleeve against his bloodied nose. One eye is bruised closed, his face dirty and his shirt crumpled. His glasses are nowhere to be seen.

“Jon-”

“Don’t tell anyone.” He warns her, voice strained. Rachel wants to argue and insist on talking to a school authority. But when Jon does all to avoid eye contact with her, she instead takes him by the arm with her good hand, guiding him back to the school building’s nearest washroom. Her umbrella lays abandoned.


	6. RACHEL III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 6 - Flame

Rachel waits silently outside the boy’s room, straining to hear if Jonathan calls for her. But all she can hear is the faucet running and the downpour outside. After Jon finishes cleaning himself up, she will have to call her mom to pick her up.

He exits the bathroom, hair and face damp and his nose stuffed with tissue paper to stop the bleeding. Though he is cleaner now, his beaten appearance makes Rachel’s blood boil.

“Who did this to you?”

No reply. Rachel steps in front of him, brows creased.

“Jon, you have to tell-”

“No I don’t.”

A pause. She balls her good fist and stands her ground. He can hiss and deflect her suggestions all he wants; she isn’t going to budge.

“I… I tried before. It doesn’t solve anything.”

Rachel chews on her lip. Though his defeatist nature irks her, she sees no reason to doubt him. How long has this been going on for him, anyway? She looks back up at Jon.

She always thought he was a little too quiet and strange sometimes, but highly doubted he was one to get into fights. There was no reason and no right for someone to try to deface him the way they did.

She sighs.

“At least tell _me_ , then.”


	7. JONATHAN IV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 7 - Formal

One day he doesn’t see her at school. She makes no appearance in the halls and doesn’t find him in his corner at the library.

He is tempted to ask her group of friends but the size of the crowd puts him off, so he skulks away.

_She grew tired of you._ A voice that sounds like Great Granny Keeny taunts him. He shakes his head. The old woman likes to jump to conclusions but he should know better and instead he walks over to the bulletin board where class schedules for each grade are still posted and… He stops. He never asked her which class she’s in.

The next day Rachel comes back, her left arm free of the grimy plaster cast. Jonathan’s apprehension goes away.


	8. JONATHAN V

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 8 - Companion

It doesn’t take long for others to notice that Jonathan has a friend now. That imbecile Bo Griggs especially makes a whole show of it when he slams Jonathan against the lockers.

“Hey Crane, where’s your little girlfriend?” he taunts as he keeps him pinned to the wall by a shirt’s fistful. “Isn’t she too young, though? What grade is she in anyway? _Fourth_? Are you a pervert, Crane?”

His cronies laugh in unison like the trained animals they are as Griggs insists on repeating the insult.

Jonathan squirms trying to loosen himself from the vice grip, wailing pathetically to be released but it only makes Bo slam him against the lockers much harder this time. His glasses hang askew.

“You didn’t answer my question, _scarecrow_.” Bo spits out, closing the distance between them. His fetid breath fills Jon’s nostrils and he can’t help but grimace. “Are you some kind of pervert? Huh?”

There’s a gray blur; with an audible _thud_ Bo abruptly lets him go and collapses on the floor, holding his head, circled by his dumbstruck peers. An aluminum thermos rolls away, its content spilling around his feet.


	9. JONATHAN VI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 9 - Move

Rachel was the one who threw the thermos. Jonathan pushes his glasses back to place and awkwardly drags himself away from where Griggs fell down; Rachel’s face is painted in red fury. Her gaggle of friends has their hands clasped to their mouths, unbelieving of the scene developing in front of them.

Bo struggles to stand up, his fat hand still over his temple, where the bottle struck him. Slipping on the puddle at his feet, he almost collapses again if not for his flailing arm finding support on one of his peers.

“Who the _fuck_ threw that?!” he bellows, causing the girls behind Rachel to gasp and step back. Jonathan himself flinches.

But Rachel stands her ground and for a moment Jonathan thinks she will scream or jump at Griggs. He’s seen this sort of ferocity before but never aimed at his assailants.

Griggs punches a locker, denting the metal plate and Jonathan flinches again “I said who the fuck threw that?!”

His eyes fall on Rachel, enraged and savage and that is when adrenaline rushes through Jonathan’s veins.

Grabbing Rachel by the wrist, he pushes through and out of the crowd.


	10. RACHEL IV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 10 - Silver

“Jon, knock it off!” Rachel screeches trying to both pull away and keep up with Jonathan’s pace. They’re not that different in height yet she feels like her own legs have shrunken somehow.

“You shouldn’t have done that, Rachel.” He pants. “You shouldn’t have hit him like that.”

_He acts like a scared animal._ Rachel jerks her arm again but fails to free herself. How is it that a boy so skinny like him has such a strong grip?

“Jon let go! I don’t want another cast.”

That seems loosen the hold he has on her and she wastes no time to pull away. But as she shakes the soreness away from her wrist, Jon clutches her shoulders, steely icicle stare pinning her down.

“He is going to want to get back at you-”

“He can try.”

“No Rachel, _listen_ ” his voice cracks and she shuts up. Jon digs his nails onto her shoulder, afraid. “He beat up Sherry Squires once. His own girlfriend!”

Rachel pales.


	11. RACHEL V

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 11 - Prepared

Rachel knows of Sherry. Cheerleader, pretty and too loud from two grades up; though they never talked, she was familiar with the girl and knew that she had changed schools after some incident she didn’t know the details of until today.

“You go away somewhere and I’ll-”

“No!” she almost screams. If she hides, it’s be like admitting she did something wrong. If she hides… She doesn’t know what that brute Griggs would do to Jon. Doesn’t want to know.

“Rachel, list-”

Bo punches Jon straight in the jaw, knocking him on the ground, his glasses flying; she screams. The crowds of students disperse against the walls among gasps and curses leaving Rachel planted where she stands.

Jon curls into himself, grunting as he receives Griggs’ vicious kicking. It all seems to pass by so slowly, as if the only thing that’s going on is the violent beating Bo inflicts on Jon and the rest of the student body is frozen on the sidelines. Rachel throws herself to grab the larger boy.


	12. RACHEL VI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 12 - Knowledge

“Leave him alone! Get off him!” she screams, pulling at Griggs’ jacket, but she’s hauled away by the spectators. She tries to wriggle free and continues screaming at the bully but her voice and efforts are drowned out.

She’s close to breaking down into tears when Principal Miller arrives to the spot followed by two other faculty members. It takes three grown adults to pull the gorilla that is Briggs away from Jon. By the moment they drag the enraged and cursing bully away, Rachel jumps to Jon’s side.

His face is drenched in sweat and he sputters drips of blood from where Bo punched him. Rachel starts to weep.

“Jon. Oh God, Jon.”

He mutters something inaudible. Among her sobs and the noise of the rest of the student around them, she gets her ear closer to him.

“Griggs has hemophobia. He’s afraid of blood.”


	13. JONATHAN VII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 13 - Denial

He leaves the nurse’s office limping, his mouth filled with gauze and bruises on his jaw, arms and abdomen; the difference being that today he was given some medical treatment after receiving a beating. The nurse had given him an ointment for the contusions and expressed it was a miracle his teeth hadn’t been broken. Jonathan thinks he has to count his blessings, no matter how insignificant.

The halls are empty on the other side of the door, something which makes Jonathan pause. Traces of the previous altercation were wiped out completely and Rachel is nowhere to be found.

_Probably forced to return to class._ He considers doing the same.

It isn’t until an hour after being dispatched from the nurse’s office that he returns to his homeroom. Searching the girls’ bathrooms for Rachel proved fruitless.


	14. JONATHAN VIII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 14 - Wind

Jonathan is told to go to Principal Miller’s office at the end of the last period. He seethes on the way; he won’t be able to see Rachel off at the bus stop.

“Griggs has been suspended for a week for his actions.” Miller tells him in the privacy of his office. Jonathan chooses to not comment on it. A week is no punishment and besides, the brute might not be able to step into the school but nothing keeps him off the streets. He knows he’ll be meeting with that beast eventually.

“He says he attacked you because you threw a metal bottle at him.”

“I diffn’f-” he scowls and digs out the gauze out of his mouth. “I didn’t.”

“His head was bruised, Crane. How do you explain that?”

Jonathan tightens his lips. The thought of ratting out Rachel doesn’t sit well with him. Reckless as she was, she tried to help him. He can’t forget that kindness.

Someone knocks at the door.

“Come on in.” Miller says.

The door opens gently just as Jonathan looks back. Rachel startles.


	15. JONATHAN IX

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 15 - Order

Jonathan keeps his eyes on her when she walks into the office. Did she confess to something while he was being treated? She returns the look and mouths something he can’t reply to because Principal Miller immediately interrupts.

“Miss Dawes, Bo Griggs got a week’s suspension for misconduct.”

He half leans half sits on his desk, in front of the standing students. Rachel keeps an attentive and impassive face but Jonathan knows she’s close to talk back if something wrong is said.

“He said Mr. Crane here threw a metal bottle at him before he attacked him and that-”

“That’s not true!”

Jonathan shoots his hand to Rachel’s arm. _Shut up._ She looks to him briefly before shaking him off, a frown on her face.

“He was harassing Jonathan before I hit him.”

Jonathan’s eyes go wide. Principal Miller straightens where he stands, eyebrows arched. Rachel, though shutting her mouth immediately after confessing, plants her feet firmly on the ground and does not back down from what she just started.

“You admit to throwing the bottle and injuring Griggs, Miss Dawes?”

“Yes.” She takes a very deep breath “I threw the thermos at Griggs _because_ he wouldn’t stop harassing Jonathan.”

_You stupid, stupid girl what did you do._

Miller sighs and pinches his nose bridge. “Miss Dawes, I will need your legal guardian to come into my office on Monday at first period.”


	16. RACHEL VII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 16 - Thanks

The walk to the bus stop is quiet for most part, with Rachel sighing every so often. Though things regarding the thermos incident went better than expected, it still irks her that her mom has to come speak to Principal Miller on Monday, as if she didn’t have bigger things to deal with already… She sighs, sinking into her shoulders and kicks a pebble at her feet.

“Will your mother be angry at you?” Jon asks her, almost making her jump; Jon can be as quiet as a spider sometimes, and with her being caught up in her own head she almost forgot he was right next to her.

“No.” she shakes her head. “It’s just… I don’t wanna bother her.”

Jon tightens his lips and says nothing, opting to look at the ground instead.

“I hate all of this.” She confesses, making Jon turn to her again. “Mom used to work for the Waynes, you know. She quit after… After they died.”

She frowns and stops on her tracks. Jon halts just a step ahead of her. _Don’t bother him with this_ , Rachel thinks. But accumulated frustration threatens to pour out and all over.

“You’d think that just because Gotham is a very big and active city it would be easy to find work. But she’s always met with rejection or horrible bosses or a miserable payment.”

A knot forms in her throat. The heaviness of the day finally starts to catch up and wear her down that she kneels down and hugs her knees. _Don’t you dare cry_.

“Now she has to deal with this stupid mess that has nothing to do with her and…”

She presses her palms hard against her eyes. A strain at the sides of her head start to pulse and she clenches her jaw. Recollections of the day pool her thoughts; Griggs accosting Jon against the lockers, the thermos hitting his head, Jon dragging her away only to be assaulted, Principal Miller telling her to come to his office at the end of the day… It isn’t fair. She does not deserve this type of grief just because she stood up against a bully that ended up beating Jon to a pulp anyway. It is not fair that the school decides to also punish someone who tried to defend a friend just because it’s easy. That is not how things should work. That isn’t real justice.

Her head shoots up when a hand presses against her shoulder. Jon kneels in front of her.

“It probably doesn’t mean anything to you, but” he turns to face her and inhales sharply “I appreciate you defending me from Griggs.”

He gives her shoulder an awkward but well-meaning pat and a squeeze. “Thanks.”


	17. RACHEL VIII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 17 - Look

“Oh.” Rachel sniffs and rubs her eyes, offering Jon a strained smile. “It’s, uh, no problem.”

She sniffs again, clearing her nose. “I mean, it’s way past due that someone did something about Griggs. A thermos to the head is less than what that jerk deserves.”

She giggles at the thoughts of other punishments she wants to inflict on the bully. Punching him on the face or tripping him in front of everyone at school… An animal like him deserves a black eye at least.

Her smile falls when she looks at Jon. There is an unnerving glint in his icicle eyes and something unsettling about his silence and clenched jaw. She thinks she can hear the gears of his mind turn and buzz. Nothing about his sudden demeanor is to her liking.

“Jon? You okay?”

He snaps back out of his reverie and that sharp and frightening façade vanishes. He retrieves his hand from her shoulder.

“Yes just… Thinking of something.”


	18. RACHEL IX

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 18 - Summer

“Jon? What’re you gonna do this summer?”

It’s an awkward way to shift from the previous heavy mood but she’s said it out loud so there’s no turning back.

Jon shakes his head. “Nothing in particular. Read, mostly.”

The corners of her lips quirk upwards. Of course he would answer with that. The many times she’s encountered him hiding in a corner of the school’s library should have been enough to know the answer.

“You graduate next year, right? Will you go to college?” she asks again.

He pushes his glasses back and nods. Rachel notices how his face lights up, if ever so slightly at the question. It suits him, she thinks.

“I want to apply for a scholarship at Gotham College.” He explains “I have good grades so I think I have a chance.”

“What major?”

“Psychology.”

She smiles again. _Of course._

“You’re gonna be very busy next year, huh? We should hang out this summer.”

A breeze blows and the clouds overhead drift somewhat to let some of the sun’s rays poke through the gloom. Rachel leans back into the bench. Jon pushes his glasses back.

“I guess.”


	19. JONATHAN X

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 19 - Transformation

Jonathan skids through the halls of Keeny Manor, avoiding the creaky floorboards. Ever since discovering the library above, he opted to walk around on his socks. Great Granny Keeny had gotten older, weaker and less able to grab at him but he still preferred to avoid the old woman as much as possible.

He locks the door of the library behind him and directs himself closer to the large windows, where a messenger bag waits for him, hidden amongst moth eaten curtains. Unloading the various contents on the floor, he drops to his knees and begins to work.

Griggs has hemophobia. This is what he told Rachel. When that gorilla attacked him in the halls, he had made Jonathan bite down his tongue. It happened fast and was easy to miss, but when bloody spittle shot out of his mouth and landed on Griggs, the bully’s eyes widened in a way Jonathan never witnessed him do before but knew about it too well.

He rummages through handwritten journals, trying to find something.

“How do I multiply the range of that expression of yours, Griggs?” he mutters, eyes and hands rapidly scanning through his notes “How do I put you in your place?”


	20. JONATHAN XI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 20 - Tremble

He flips through pages back and forth, tossing and picking up journals until the sun is almost down and he is unable to strain his eyes any longer. With frustration building up inside him, he throws the notebook in his hand against a bookshelf.

He untangles himself from the floor and paces back and forth through the nearly dim lit library, nails digging into his scalp and almost not giving a whit if Great Granny Keeny finds him here.

_Symptoms triggered by hemophobia include trouble breathing, rapid heart rate, tightness in chest, nausea, anxiety, powerlessness…_ He lists all of his observations in his head, seemingly pacing faster and more frantic every time he mentally ticks down an element.

Jonathan twists and turns through the library’s aisles in a trance. _How do I trigger those symptoms is the question. There is no time to concoct a mixture and I can’t just force him into my Sunday suit._

The pacing stops when his foot kicks something across the library floorboards.


	21. JONATHAN XII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 21 - Sunset

It’s a worn down paperback book. Though the sun is almost down, he can visualize the face of a sad looking girl in the cover and the words ‘CARRIE’ printed in bold white letters.

_Ah yes._ He remembers. _The King novel. Abruptly left it lying around when Great Granny Keeny realized I forgot to lock the door._

He recalls sitting with his back against the shelf and bent legs pressed to his chest, engrossed in the all too familiar misadventures of Carrie White when the old hag pushed the doors open. He carelessly abandoned the book and scurried away before Great Granny could lay her malicious beady eyes on him.

The sun finally sets behind the horizon but the realization in his mind rises. His eyes fall onto the book’s silhouette in his hands as Rachel’s words ring in his head. _A thermos to the head is less than what that jerk deserves._

“Yes, Rachel. You are absolutely correct.”


	22. RACHEL X

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 22 - Mad

Rachel looks to the watch on her wrist, foot tapping rhythmically and impatiently. She considers leaving, especially since she’s been waiting for Jon for about twenty minutes already with absolutely no sign of him showing up any time soon. But she stays.

_He said there was something very important he wanted to talk about._

Tapping her foot again, she looks to end of the hallway expecting he shows up. If it was something truly important, why the hell was he taking so long? Then she gasps.

It’s been thirteen days since the incident with Griggs. His week suspension came and went and Rachel has been dreading any possible encounters with the bully. Fortunately for her, they never crossed paths and her anxiety slowly died down until today. What if Jonathan encountered Griggs? Recalling his savage beating, Rachel pushes away from where she leans looking to the hallway hoping Jon appears.


	23. RACHEL XI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 23 - Thousand

It’s not Jon who appears.

“If it isn’t the scarecrow’s girlfriend!” Bo Griggs proclaims when he sees her. His paces in wide strides, arms apart and hands balled into fists. Rachel does not like the look in his eyes; shrewd, angry and wild. As if he’s waiting any sort of provocation to jump her. Rachel wants to turn and run. But he’s already closed the distance, towering over her and all she can do now is put on a brave face.

“Where’s your boyfriend anyway?” the brute asks getting in Rachel’s face. He is huge, broad shouldered and with fat hands, Rachel notices. _And a sewer mouth._ “I have a bone to pick with him.”

She swallows but her scowl remains. “How the hell should I know? And he’s not my boyfriend. Now get out of my sight.”

She turns and makes to walk away and for a second she believes he’ll let her be. But a rough hand grabs her by the shoulder and shoves back. Her neck goes cold.


	24. RACHEL XII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 24 - Outside

“Get your hands off me, Griggs.” She tells him loudly. Her back is pressed to the rails of a staircase leading to the stories above. She hopes someone hears her voice and comes down running soon.

“Or what, bitch?” the brute taunts, refusing to loosen his grip on her “Think your scarecrow boyfriend’s gonna show up to rescue you? He couldn’t even try to stand up the last time I kicked his ass.”

Rachel tries to wriggle free but Griggs grabs her by both her arms, grip tightening and tugging her a little bit away from the rails before shoving her again.

“Stop you’re hurting me!” she shrieks. Beads of sweat form on her forehead and the back of her neck. Griggs laughs, tightening his hold on her until she bruises.

“Hey I have an idea!” he exclaims and Rachel goes cold again “Know those couples who match clothes and stuff?”

Her throat dries up; she hates and fears where this is going.

“I can give you matching bruises!”

_He beat up Sherry Squires. His own girlfriend!_ Crane’s voice echoes in her mind and suddenly the brute’s right hand lets her go to be raised up as a fist. She wails.

Something wet, slimy, cold and foul splashes across her cheeks and stains her shirt and skirt; a strong and choking stench fills her nostrils and her voice leaves her completely. Griggs’ frantic and glassy gaze meets her own behind a veil of red.


	25. CRANE I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 25 - Winter

From a few steps above the ground floor, Jonathan watches how Bo Griggs heaves and trembles, gore dripping onto the ground. Minor stains of blood tarnish Rachel’s face and clothes, but otherwise she’s untouched.

_Just as I expected._

“Oh God…” Griggs whimpers and hyperventilates. He steps back, away from Rachel as if doing so would cleanse him of pig’s blood dyeing him red all over. “Oh _fuck_ …!”

Griggs whines and cries, collapsing on the sticky red floor, only to make a bigger mess. “Get… Get…”

His strained moans come out in a broken, shrill voice. Jonathan descends from the stairs cautiously and never blinking, never missing the scene below.

_Run pig, run._

“Get it off me..!” Griggs screams out “Get it off me!”

The bloodied bully trips and escapes in the direction he came from, his howling bouncing off the hallway’s walls; Jonathan makes it to the ground floor, jumping over the last two steps.

“Rachel.” He calls out casually.

She’s pale, almost curled up against the rails. He strides towards her, stepping over a puddle of blood and pulling her to her feet by limp and frozen hands.


	26. CRANE II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 26 - Diamond

“What a grand show, wasn’t it?” he proclaims, smiling to the hallway Griggs ran off to and back at Rachel. “Who would have thought it would work?”

He pulls her away from the gory mess on the floor. The outside air is chilly and fog has overtaken the empty soccer field. He could almost spin her around.

“It was cumbersome to get all that pig’s blood.” He confesses. “Had to ask various butchers around and convince them it was for a school science project. And then there was the matter of transporting all of that. I skipped classes to drain all that blood into a bucket.”

He is unable to stop himself from speaking. To finally get back at Griggs after years of ridicule and abuse, of name calling and bruises, of torment that left him friendless and afraid… Truly, justice would only be served by his own hand.

“Of course,” he turns to Rachel’s pale and wide eyed face “You gave me the push I needed to do this. You said that a thermos to the head was less than what he deserved and you were right!”

By now his face hurts from all the smiling. He shrugs a bit sheepishly but still content nonetheless. “This is why I called you to wait here, you know? You distracting him here was necessary. I could not have done this without you, Rach-”

_Crack!_

His glasses are sent flying and shatter on the bloody floor. All is silent but for the ringing in his ears. The left side of his face stings and it takes him the longest five seconds of his life to regain his balance. Jonathan slowly turns his head around, wary icicle eyes peering back. Rachel stands there with a trembling hand raised; pale and frightened before bolting away.


	27. MISS DAWES I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 27 - Letters

Rachel runs without looking back. She runs even though her chest starts to hurt and her legs scream at her to stop. A sheen of cold sweat forms on her forehead, scalp and back of her neck and she feels like she’ll collapse any minute now, but she rushes through empty hallways, panting until she sees the open door of one of the girl’s restrooms and throws herself inside.

She can still feel her hand pulsating after slapping Jon- _Crane’s_ bony face and when she catches her own horrified and blood spattered expression on the washroom’s filthy mirror, she almost cries out. Turning the faucet’s knob completely, she scrubs away the sticky and putrid stains on her cheeks.

The image of Griggs covered in blood, his frightened eyes and howling as he escaped torments her mind and she’s forced to open her eyes again, if only to rid herself if those thoughts.

She wants to dry herself; patting down her damp shirt and skirt to search for tissues or a handkerchief she might be carrying, she feels something crumpled hiding in her pockets and takes it out.

_Rachel:_

_Please meet me today by the staircase overlooking the soccer field at 3:00 PM._

_I need your help for something extremely urgent._

_Don’t be late._

_\- Jonathan_

Her hand curls into a fist, crumpling the semi damp note and she throws it at the overflowing sink with a strained grunt.

With her back against the stalls she breaks down into unrestrained sobs.


	28. MISS DAWES II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 28 - Promise

Rachel weeps, nails digging into her scalp; the only noise that accompanies her wailing is the running faucet.

“Bastard!” she whines through sobs “Monster! Son of a bitch, h-how could he? Ah…”

Why did things escalate the way they did? What right was there for this to happen? She recalls when she first spoke to Crane, returning his glasses in a hallway; the library visits, where he would hide in his corner for her to find him and say hello; the hang outs at the bus stop, where he would wait for her to leave first before going his own way. They were friends, weren’t they? She helped him clean himself up after a beating, helped him shoulder his burdens and shared her own, spoke in his favor and even physically defended him from his own tormentor!

_Then why did he set me up? Friends don’t take advantage of friends that way. And what he did to Griggs…_ She slaps her hand over her mouth, stifling her wails and nausea.

Griggs was a violent animal who needed to be held accountable for the awful things he’s done and said. But the incident at the staircase… That wasn’t justice; it was a show of cruelty.

_You gave me the push I needed to do this._ Crane’s voice reverberates in her mind, leaving her with a bitter taste in her tongue and mortification running through her spine.

She sniffs aloud, before pushing herself up from the floor. Damp, swollen face and reddened eyes stare back at her; Rachel frowns, wiping her nose with her sleeve.

“No.” she tells herself. “None of this was my doing.”

Stepping closer to the sink, she turns the faucet off; overflowing water goes down the drain with a loud gurgling noise. She stares herself down through the mirror. Even if she had been careless with her words, Crane had done this all on his own will. What happened to Bo Griggs was on him and him alone.

“No more tears, Dawes.” She sniffs again. “You won’t let him rope you into his schemes, you hear me? You won’t.”


	29. MISS DAWES III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 29 - Simple

“Principal Miller.” Rachel yells, matching his hurried pace behind him out of his office.

“Not now, Miss Dawes.”

She picks up the pace, trying to match the stride of the frazzled man in front of her. The hallways overcrowd with students; murmurs, gasps and cursing filling her ears as she tries to push past the multitude. Something big and terrible happened she knows, but she has to tell him about the incident with Griggs last Friday.

There is a particularly large gathering of students by the entrance and Rachel almost trips over herself when she sees members of the GCPD standing by Crane, who has a confused and restless look on his face.

When Principal Miller arrives to shake hands with the cops, Rachel strains to hear what’s being said to no avail.

A mustachioed officer speaks, looking apologetic when he puts his hand on Crane’s shoulder. The latter turns paler that usual and his lower lip trembles, looking like he’s about to topple over. Students gasp out loud.

“What?” Rachel asks another girl. “What did he say?”

“That kid’s grandma was killed this morning.”

Rachel’s mouth goes dry and her hands cold. Crane’s sobbing muffles and becomes distant, and soon the noise of the crowd tunes out for her. She stares at him. He weeps behind his hands but there is a moment when he separates his fingers to look through them and stares directly at her. His eyes are sharp, dangerous and dreadful. Rachel freezes in her spot.


	30. EPILOGUE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 30 - Future

Judge Faden declares Victor Zsasz mentally insane and orders him to be sent to Arkham Asylum, a vacation resort for people who actually deserve to be put behind bars.

With court adjourned, Rachel lines up her files, expelling some frustration with every tap. _Things can’t continue like this._

“Doctor Crane.” she calls out. It’s strange to speak to him after so many years. Her last year and a half of high school had been tempestuous for her. Though both ceased contact with each other, knowing he still inhabited the same space as her had put her on edge. She could never truly forget the stench of pig’s blood and the cold eyes peeking at her through separated fingers. After his class graduated, she hoped to never see him again. But life made sure they’d cross paths once more and, unsettling as it was to meet him in court, Rachel Dawes was now Assistant District Attorney and the job did not require cowardice in any form.

He looks at her over his shoulder. “Ah, Miss Dawes.”

Disdain is written all over him and he makes no intention to stop for her. Rachel picks up pace to stand shoulder to shoulder. He’s about an inch shorter than she is, she notices.

“You really think a man who butchers people for the mob doesn’t belong in jail?”

She won’t be roundabout regarding the botched trial. The judge and the city can turn to theatrics and vague words, but she’ll confront him about it directly. _Did you let them buy you as well, Jon?_

He gives her a patronizing half smile. “Well, I’d have hardly testified to that otherwise, wouldn’t I Miss Dawes?”

She intercepts him, staring him down and forcing him to a halt. “This is the _third_ of Carmine Falcone’s thugs you had declared insane and moved into your asylum.”

It takes all her will to keep her rage at bay. _You had a savage bully drenched in pig’s gore years ago. Do you vouch for the likes of him now?_

He forces a smile again and speaks to her as if it were a lecture. “The work offered by organized crime must have an attraction to the insane.”

“Or the _corrupt_.”

He stops mid pace and Rachel thinks he’ll turn to warn or threaten her. She plants her feet on the ground. Whatever he throws at her, she can take it.

“Mister Finch,” Crane calls out. Gotham’s district attorney, Carl Finch, turns to the doctor, his expression going somber. “I think you should check with Miss Dawes here just what implications your office has authorized her to make. _If any._ ”

Crane leaves without looking back and Rachel’s face twists into a bewildered expression. Carl takes her away by the arm, scolding her for her indiscretion and she rebukes by calling him out on his subservience.

The day is wasted but the war is not over. Rachel clenches her jaw. _You won’t turn back now, will you Jonathan?_ She expected to feel nostalgic and dejected but instead, righteous anger is what occupies her mind. All she can do now is prepare better for when she meets Crane again.

-

_Almost stepped on my heels there, Miss Dawes._

Crane grits his teeth and tenses his grip on his briefcase. Of all things to expect today, seeing Rachel Dawes at court was not in the list. The woman has grown insightful, quick to think and act and stupidly brave to confront him. Traces of the frightened girl he last saw all those years ago are gone. The woman at the courthouse stands her ground and he can’t help but wonder why this wretched city hasn’t broken her yet.

_This won’t do._ Crane is not an idiot; he knows this Assistant District Attorney is more powerful and more daring than her own boss and that is what makes her dangerous. If she’s allowed to continue prosecuting against the men he hides at Arkham then his own employer’s plan won’t come to fruition; with Crane himself earning a one way ticket to Blackgate. He would have to directly ask The Roman for assistance.

_How disappointing, Rachel. I hoped our reunion could have been a little less complicated._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I once read a fic that introduced the thought that Crane and Rachel knew each other since their teen years and I wanted to explore that idea. This is mainly based in the Nolanverse canon but I will borrow elements from Gotham and Year One verses.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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